The Girl in the Library
by Vindel
Summary: One girl's actions changes the life of a of a boy who is deemed emotionless and unpleasant to be with. It all begins with an extract from a book. SaiIno.
1. Chapter 1

This is a SaiIno fanfic inspired by a drawing I found on deviantart. It was meant to be a one-shot but it ended three chapters instead, which I have completed writing.

Enjoy. No flames please, don't like the pairing then don't read it.

All characters in this fanfic belong to Kishimoto, Masashi.

* * *

The Girl in the Library

It throbbed, it throbbed so painfully. He held his cheek as he walked down the passage; the voice of a pink haired female threatening to hit him again echoed in the empty passage. The thin pale boy walked in a hurried fashion in fear of another stinging slap. He stopped in his haste when he could no longer hear the voice of his pink haired class mate. His legs gave way to the burning sensation blazing through them and he sat on the cold floor. 'I don't get it, she called Naruto a baka (idiot) and he was okay with it, but when I gave her a nickname based on her traits…her reaction was quite surprising and very unexpected.'

"Hey you okay there?" a voice asked

Sai lifted his head to face a boy whose ponytailed hair shot upwards and resembled a pineapple. "Hello….pine-" Sai feared another blow to his face so he didn't finish what he intended to say.

"If your cheek is this red then I'm guessing you said something to Sakura and she hit you, right?" the pineapple haired boy answered.

"This nickname thing is so difficult. I tried to give her a nickname based on her traits and she got mad and hit me" Sai gave closure to his cheek again.

The pineapple haired boy sat in front of Sai "What did you call her?"

Sai looked around to check if the coast was clear "I called her…ugly"

The pineapple boy in front of Sai looked at him in complete shock "You're troublesome. Girls are different from us guys, you have to be cautious when you tell them something about their body"

'…cautious?' Sai thought. He stretched into his grey bag and pulled out a pale lilac coloured book.

"So you've been getting reading a book this kinda stuff I see, it must be troublesome" the pineapple haired boy read the label on the book.

Sai gave a small nod "But it's useless, it didn't help at all"

The pineapple hair boy laughed "Sai, not everythi-"

The pineapple haired boy stopped talking when he heard a two familiar loud voices "Oh what do you know, Sakura and Ino are coming this way, this is your chance to apologi-" when the pineapple haired boy looked to where Sai was sitting he had completely vanished

"Staring at the wall isn't going to help you figure how to promote the chess club Shikamaru" A female voice said before smacking him out of his daze

"Ino! Watch where you swinging that book!" Shikamaru protested rubbing the back of his head vigorously. "For your information I was taking to the new guy, Sai"

Sakura's face immediately boiled red from anger "Where is the rude piece of shit?"

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders. The girl grabbed Shikamaru's shirt.

She gripped Shikamru shirt and pulled him forward closer to her face "If you're trying to protect him-"

Shikamaru could feel her hot steamed breath brush against his face "Hey, hey. I was talking to him and then he just vanished"

"And you let him go?" a shocked Ino asked "You let that Sasuke cute look-a-like go? How could you Shikamaru?"

Sakura glared at her female friend "How could you defend him? That thing called me ugly"

"He did?...I love him even more now." Ino replied

"Excuse me?" Sakura said

"Well, it's about time someone else told you what you truly look like." Ino answered

"Now listen here Ino-pig, I've told many times before that Sai is completely clueless and has no disregard for anyone's emotions." Sakura explained

"I'm in complete agreement with that statement, the guy is troublesome" Shikamaru backed up Sakura

"So now you're siding with this big-fore headed beast here?" Ino asked Shikamaru in an interrogating manner.

Shikamaru raised his hands in defence "It's true Ino. The guy has seems to have no emotions what so ever and he'll never harvest any. Abandon all hope Ino, find yourself another guy to drool over, and save yourself from heartache"

"You guys are completely blind, the guy is a complete genius you guys have seen his great potential" Ino said in Sai's defence. Ino looked at Sakura "And besides, Sasuke is not coming back. I'm not going to be like Sakura and hold onto false hope, Sasuke made his choice and the fact that we haven't seen him in the last two years proves it…He isn't coming back."

Sakura dropped her head and let go of Shikamaru's shirt "Sasuke is coming back, he'll come back and Naruto and I will make sure he does"

Ino felt bad seeing Sakura's sad face "Well there's always Naruto and you seem to be clinging to him so much now that he has come back"

Shikamaru could feel another argument coming so he pulled Sakura away before she could say anything to Ino.

Meanwhile Sai stood at the end of the passage 'They think I'm not capable of anything?' Sai rested his hand on his chest 'What is this pain?...why does it hurt so…are friends meant to say things that hurt this much?' The sound of footsteps lured him out of his confused thoughts and he rushed back towards the place where he'd gotten the guide book from.

* * *

In the library

Ino sighed as she walked into the library, it was empty as usual. The peace and quiet of the library cleared her mind and made it easier for her to study Biology, Science and her favourite things flowers. She walked into the medical section and picked out a few books, and placed them on the nearest table. She checked her study list and realised that she had forgotten a few more books. She let out a frustrated moan went and to search for the book; she pulled it out and walked back to the table. She placed the book at the top of the pile and glanced at the window. 'My spot is not occupied today' Ino thought happily. She picked up the pile of books and headed straight for her usual spot which was next to the window. The pile of books was heavy and she could barely see where she was headed.

The books fell onto the ground when she realised she'd bumped into someone "arg"

She lifted her head to see who had caused her to drop her books.

"Oh Hi" she said blushing

The boy that stood in front of her looked at her with a blank expression on his face "Hi"

Ino searched his face "Are you okay?"

Sai was surprised by the question "Umm, yes"

"Oh okay, it just seemed like you were troubled by-" before Ino could say anything Sai had walked away. She watched him walking slowly, his left hand clenched in a tight fist as though he were angry or upset 'For some who is deemed emotionless he seems to have something…I wonder what's bothering him so much'

Sai sat down and pulled out a pencil and paper; to his left side stood a stack of self-help books waiting to be viewed. He played with the pencil in his hand and stared at the blank sheet in front of him 'I don't understand. Why do I feel like this?....am I supposed to feel like this? ' he hit his fist on to the table. A few people turned their heads and stared at him for a second then got back to their business. Sai's eyes never left the blank sheet before him and for a long while his mind remained occupied by thoughts of what he felt. What he felt was so new to him that understanding it was challenging and frustrating but most of all, hurt. He lay the pencil on the blank sheet of paper before him and looked up, his eyes fell onto the girl he had seen earlier. 'She asked me if I was all right' he thought 'did my face show an emotion for her to notice that?'

Sai glanced at the books next to her 'The Wonder that is Flowers? Why is studying about flowers?'

* * *

The next few days felt no different for Sai; Sakura glared at him endlessly and Naruto laughed at him. His concentration in class had become non-existent and everyday he was sent out or shouted at for not listening or bothering to complete his homework.

It was after school and he was back in the library again. He sat down with one book by his side and the usual blank sheet of paper in front of him. He took a glance towards the window and saw the girl from before sitting in her regular place looking out the window. The image of her being lost sparked him to pick up his pencil and fill the blank page with an image of her. The pencil softly glided on the paper leaving a trail of gray on it, slowly painting an image of a female glancing out the window. Sai didn't realise it but the more he drew the more he felt at ease and the more his blank face became gave the impression of happy. He lifted his head to verify his illustration 'The Wonder that is Flowers. She reads that book a lot but, why flowers?'

Sai's thoughts were interrupted by a voice he knew all too well.

"Ino" the pink haired girl shouted as she ran past Sai

'Oh no Sakura!' Sai sunk into his seat and grabbed a book to cover his face from view.

"Don't be so loud this is a library you idiot" Ino whispered

Sakura shook her head "Never mind that, you have to see this"

"Who did Naruto hit this time?" Ino guessed

Sakura corrected Ino's guess "No, it's Sasuke. He is on the news"

Ino stood up "They found him?"

"Not only that, its reported that he killed Orochimaru and released the people Orochimaru had been experimenting on. They are calling him a hero" Sakura informed Ino

"Sasuke helped someone else? No-way that's not like him, Sasuke thinks about Sasuke and nobody else" Ino commented

Sakura pulled Ino "Come on we have to go see the rest of this"

Ino was unable to break free from Sakura's grip and followed her anyway.

After they disappeared Sai sat in his seat stunned at the news 'Orochimaru is dead?' He placed the book he has used from cover on the table and his eyes fell onto the spot Ino was sitting in, the book about flowers had been left open. Sai stood up and walked over to the seat which Ino had sat in, he stood over the book and looked at the flower that was on the page 'Sunflower?' Curious to know what may have attracted Ino to that particular flower, Sai began to read further "**The Beautiful Sunflower, **_The most common type grows from 1 to 3 centimetres in height and has one or more beads of flowers. Each head consists of a disk of small, tubular flowers surrounded by a fringe of large yellow petals. A sunflower head may measure more than 30 centimetres in diameter and produce up to 1 000 seeds. The head turns and faces toward the sun throughout the day._" Sai analysed it for a few minutes more "I don't understand it, its yellow and tall and big and that's it. What's so fascinating abot it?' he questioned 'I'd better go and inform Danzo that Sasuke has eliminated Orochimaru and before Sakura returns with that girl' Sai walked back to his table and cleared it of his books and placed them back in the shelves. He returned to his desk and saw the picture he had drawn of the girl who had been staring out the window 'Sakura once questioned why my drawings never had titles. But today I have one and I'm calling it The Girl in the Library'

* * *

Sunflower extract taken from The World Book Encyclopedia.

I hope you enjoyed that. I will be updating the next chapter next week.

I love reviews so don't be shy, flames however will not be entertained and will be used to warm me up this winter.


	2. Sunflower

Good evening, THANK YOU for the lovely reviews

: I know the story is progressing too fast but I have to make this short or I'll never finish. Hope you understand  
**Unemployed-ninja**: To answer your question they are students.

Enjoy. No flames please, don't like the pairing then don't read it. Please excuse all grammar and spelling mistakes.  
All characters in this fanfic belong to Kishimoto, Masashi.

* * *

Chapter 2: Sunflower

Ino's Dream

The light of the sun felt warm on her skin, her chest rose as she took a deep breath in before separating her eyelids to a cloudless cerulean sky. Her body lay in a sea of yellow sunflowers; she watched them sway in the light breeze. She turned her head the left and realised that she lay alone, she looked to the right and again no body lay next to her, she stood up and looked around the endless sea of sunflowers, she let out a painful sigh and looked to the ground 'Is there nobody I can share this beautiful place with?' She glanced at the sky, her body became to tilt backward and she fell.

-end of dream-

Ino scratched her eyes, clearing them of the hardened dust that had formed during her sleep. She lifted her body and sat along the edge of her bed recalling her dream "I dreamt of the sunflowers" a faint smile appeared on her face "It's been a while since I had that dream" her smile faded "But why do I give up and fall in the end? Why did I not search for someone?"

* * *

Sai

"And stay out!" a voice shouted  
Sai held his knees, as he huffed and puffed 'It's just a flower, she didn't have to send her dog after me.' Sai stood up and looked at the flower he had picked and got chased by a dog for 'sunflower' Sai thought for a moment before walking to school.

* * *

Lunch time

The noise in the canteen was as usual and Sai found himself looking for a place to sit and when he found none he leaned against the wall and ate his lunch. His eyes moved around the area, they stopped when he saw a girl with long blonde hair sitting at a table with the guy with the hair like a pineapple and another boy who looked fat and was vacuuming potato chips. 'Sunflower' was the only thing that came to his mind.

"You can't stand there" a familiar voice said  
A drop of sweat ran down Sai's face "Am I not allowed to stand here?"  
"Apologise" the person in front of Sai commanded  
Sai was confused "Pardon?"  
The person's face turned beet-red and then grabbed Sai's ear and began pulling it "Pardon? I said apologise"  
Sai's face cringed from the pain that was coming from his left ear "What do I have to apologise for?"  
The person twisted Sai's ear "For calling me ugly, in case you have forgotten"  
"I'm sorry Sakura, please forgive me" Sai in a painful voice  
Sakura let go of Sai's ear and smiled "Apology accepted. There is space to sit and eat where Naruto and I. You don't have to stand and eat here, it's uncomfortable to eat while standing"  
Sai nodded and began to follow Sakura. He noticed that Sakura had managed to draw the attention of the population within the canteen, he felt embarrassed but his embarrassment became evident when he caught the girl with the blonde hair looking at him.

"That was so unnecessary" Ino said  
"She's your friend so you should be used to her by now" Shikamaru answered  
"But still the poor guy looked like he was about to fall to pieces when he realised that everyone was staring" Ino continued "I'm going to give her a piece of my mind"  
Shikamaru grabbed Ino, stopping her from going to Sakura "Just stay here, you'll cause a scene and besides that guy had it coming to him."  
"He is harmless, he wouldn't hurt a fly, it's not fair. She's taking advantage of his kindness" Ino protested  
"His kindness?" Choji stopped munching on the bag of potato chips "Do you know the guy Ino?"  
Ino defended herself "No but I'm sure he is kind" Ino sat down again "…I think that he is just misunderstood"  
Shikamaru shook his head "I think you like the guy"  
Ino blushed "No I don't"  
"First Sasuke, now Sai. You like guys with names that start with S" Choji pointed out  
"That doesn't mean I like Shikamaru" Ino stated  
Shikamaru put his hand in his chest "Ouch that hurt Ino, well not really. But seriously Ino, you'd better stay away from him he is a bad influence"  
Shikamaru's words faded away in Ino's ears as she looked at Sai again 'Just now…he looked at me'

* * *

After school

Sai was the first to arrive at the library. He took the books he needed and sat down. He pulled out his sketch book; he placed it onto the table and noticed a piece of paper sticking out of it. He pulled the paper out and saw the sketch that he drew the day before, he smiled 'This is the first time I've had a piece of artwork that has a title to it.' He glanced at the seat in which Ino sat in 'sunflower'. Sai remembered the sunflower he planted in the school garden next to the staff room that morning and rushed to go get it before it was taken.

Sai stopped and walked past the "No Students Allowed Here!" sign and walked onto the soft soil. He ducked and crawled under the window panes trying not to get caught, he had placed the sunflower in a place where it would get a lot of sun that morning and that spot was a meter away from the staff room window. Sai took a deep breath and crawled over to it. The staff room window opened and Sai froze. "Sai?" he heard Yamato sensei say  
Sai looked back at his Biology teacher and didn't know whether to smile or run.  
"What is it Yamato?" another teacher asked  
"Oh it's nothing Kakashi sempai" Yamato closed the window preventing Kakashi from coming to see what had startled Yamato.  
Sai let out a big and sigh and continued pulling out the sunflower, crawled back and made his way back to the library.

Sai entered the library to find it occupied by quite a few people and the girl who he had picked the flower for 'I had hoped to be back before she came, maybe I can give it to her later'. Sai sat down and began reading. His reading was disturbed when he heard a panic stricken voice  
"My clinic access card? Where is it?" Ino said out aloud in panic. She shuffled through her back and her blazer pockets  
Sai watched as she left the library in a rush. He glanced at the desk she sat at 'I guess now is the right time' he got up and placed the sunflower on the open book about flowers 'she was looking at the sunflower again'. He returned to his desk and walked back to his seat before she caught him standing at her table.

Ino walked into the library with her clinic access card hanging from her neck attached to a lanyard, she stood still when she arrived at her desk and found a sunflower on the book. She looked around but found no hint of anyone who had put the flower onto her book. Ino brought the flower to her nose and inhaled its scent into her nose, she then smiled. Sai pulled the book away that his face from the girl that was searching for the giver of the flower, he sat up straight and admired her as she smelled the flower before she smiled and sat down to continue reading.

Sai tried to continue reading his book but was unable to focus on what he was reading, instead the image of her smelling the sunflower blurred his vision of the letters on the book in front of him. Sai gave in to the itch on the tips of his fingers and pulled out his sketch book. He began to envision her as her drew 'She stood tall and her was perfect posture; her arms were relaxed as she held the flower in both hands, the right hand was close to the bud and the left and a little lower leaving a small space, enough for me to see the stem; her head was raised higher than usual, her eyes were closed and had a smile on her face; the sunlight from outside gave radiance to her blonde hair and the long pony tail brushed her back a little almost touching her gluteus maximus(butt)'. Sai placed his pen after shading the picture a bit and without hesitation or thought he added a title at right hand corner called "Sunflower". He lifted his head to find that he was the only one left in the library. He looked at her desk to find that her possessions where still there but she wasn't 'where did she leave?' he glanced up at the watch 'Its late I'd better go'. He packed up his books and found himself standing by her desk; he placed the picture on the table and walked out of the library, on his way she came in. She made eye contact with him and he smiled back as she blushed.

'He smiled at me this time' Ino thought walking towards her desk. Again she stopped when she saw a beautiful drawing of her smelling the sunflower that she had received 'Who?' She looked at the clock on the wall and quickly packed, she noticed that she was the only one left in the library. While packing away she tried to make connections between the flower and the drawing "Sai…he drew this for me" she realised "I must find him and thank him"

Sai took some books out his locker 'she looked at me and smiled'. He walked down the stairs when he heard a familiar voice asking him to wait but before he could fully turn around his body hit the ground. "Itai" he groaned, he felt something heavy on his body and he looked up, he unwilling blushed when he realised how close his face was to the girl had drawn twice and given a flower to.  
Ino blush before realising that she was on top of Sai "I'm sorry" she quickly got off of Sai  
Sai lifted himself of the ground "It's okay" He looked at her and noticed that she had the sunflower and the drawing in her hands "Is there anything I can help you with?"  
Ino stood up and looked at the flower and the drawing "Y-y-yes….ummm…are you the one who gave me these?"  
Sai moved closer towards her "Yes I did. I am an artist"  
Ino nodded "I've heard"  
The dim orange light of the setting sun made Ino's sapphire eyes brighter and Sai found himself unable to control his body from moving closer to her "Is it a bad drawing?"

Ino stepped back and realised she was cornered "I-I just wanted to say thank you and ask w-why you chose me…you don't even know me"  
Sai looked the other way "The other day when Sakura hit me you protected even though you didn't know me" Sai took the flower from Ino's hand and placed it in her hair "my heart felt pain for a moment but you're words made it less sore" Sai the placed his hand on the wall almost blocking her from leaving, like he had seen in the romantic movies.  
Ino gazed into Sai's eyes and wondered why people like Shikamaru felt he was a bad influence. She blushed when Sai took the flower from her with ease and placed in her hair "they keep telling me that you are a bad influence but I don't understand since they don't really know they have no right to judge you like that, it's not fair" Ino placed her hand upon Sai's cheek as she spoke  
Sai blushed and looked away "I noticed you liked to study about the body and how it works but there was one book that I didn't quite understand why you were reading, it was the one about flowers. When Sakura pulled you out of the library because if the news on Sasuke I decided to investigate, to me it was a big yellow flower and I battled understand so this morning I on my way to school I saw one and picked it. I still didn't understand but then I thought maybe if I gave it to you, you'd understand its meaning since you seemed to have an interest for it"  
"Oh I see" Ino said removing her hand off Sai's cheek  
"But then today in the library when I placed the sunflower on your table I noticed you were still on the page with the sunflower on it and I realised I picked it to see you smile" Sai explained "you have such a beautiful smile"  
Ino blushed "Is that why you gave it the title of Sunflower?"  
Sai shook his head "Well, I didn't know your name and the only thing I could relate to you was the sunflower. If I had known your name I would have named it after you but the closest thing I could come up with was that flower" he gazed at his master piece "It was really the one moment that I didn't have to think of giving a drawing a name, it filled me with…..ummm I don't know what the emotion is called, sorry"  
Ino smiled and placed her hand back onto Sai's cheek "It's okay, the emotion is called joy" Ino could not help but feel strongly for the tall pale boy in front of her, whose eyes were coal black and full of emptiness. His mysteriousness drew her in even more "the drawing of me is beautiful, you have a great talent"  
"You look beautiful but with the sunflower in your hair it makes you look gorgeous" Sai said coming closer toward Ino's face.  
Ino blushed again and looked down "T-thank you" she began to lift her head and look at Sai "And if you'd like to know my name its-" but before Ino could tell Sai her name he had already claimed her lips. Ino's eyes rolled back and slowly shut 'His lips are so soft and he is so gentle, he is so amazing'

Sai felt Ino kiss him back and an emotion, none like any other he had ever felt invaded his senses. They stopped to take a breath; their forehead pressed against each other and looked into one another's eyes. Only after he had kissed did Sai feel fear crawl all over him, he backed off a little 'Was I meant to do that? Is she going to hit me? What have I done?' he swallowed hard "I'm sorry my body moved on its own, I didn't realise what I was doing-" Sai was silenced by Ino's finger  
"I'm not mad at you for stealing away my first kiss, i-it was incredible" Ino placed her hand on Sai's cheek and Sai placed his hand over hers  
Sai felt better after hearing Ino say that she was okay with his actions "I interrupted what you were trying to say, I'm sorry, can you tell me again?"  
"My name is Ino" Ino giggled "but I love the nickname Sunflower"  
Sai smiled before kissing Ino "sunflower.... gorgeous sunflower"  
Ino dropped her books as Sai put his hand behind her back and brought her body closer to his and their tongues occupied each other's mouths as the sunset behind Konoha High School.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed that even though they kissed way too quickly. I will be updating the next chapter next week.

I love reviews so don't be shy, flames however will not be entertained and will be used to warm me up this winter.


	3. Music: SaiIno

Alright the third and final chapter.

Thank you to:**jin toshikazu** (your whole username disappears when i add the dot) , **Unemployed-ninja **& **dark-mistress-uchiha** they really mean alot. **THANK YOU.  
**

Like i said this is the last chapter but do enjoy. I linked my artwork to this last chapter its called Music: SaiIno in my deviantart gallery. If you're interested check out my bio and the link is there

Enjoy. No flames please, don't like the pairing then don't read it. Please excuse all grammar and spelling mistakes.  
All characters in this fanfic belong to Kishimoto, Masashi.

__________________________________________________________________________________  
Music: SaiIno

Ino could not wipe the smile off her face or the memory of her and Sai tongue twisting in the school hallway. 'Sunflower' she thought 'that is so much better than ugly, wait until Sakura sees me with him'  
"See you tomorrow Sai" Ino said kissing Sai for the last time that day  
Sai smiled "See you tomorrow sunflower" he grabbed her and kissed her again  
Ino walked into her parent's flower shop and entered.

"What's his name?" a man asked  
Ino froze "Who?" trying to act dumb 'How the heck did he see? We were standing in the blind spot area of the shop'  
"The one you were kissing and the one who is walking on the other side of the street and can't keep his eyes off the stop." He pointed out  
"A-a-a classmate" Ino fiddled with her long golden fringe  
"It's no use, stop lying to me. You always give yourself away when you fiddle with your hair and plus you're late which you never are" the man stated. He then pointed at her hair "And I know you like sunflowers but you've never come home with one in your hair like that"  
Ino was speechless and just looked to the floor trying to hide the red line across her cheeks.  
"Your clothes aren't messy which means you two didn't do things you shouldn't have been doing" he continued  
"Dad!" Ino said  
"I'm not going to be difficult and say that you shouldn't date him, just be careful okay" Mr Yamanaka said  
Ino nodded "Okay, I will" she began to walk to her the office  
"You didn't tell me his name" Mr Yamanaka shouted but Ino closed the door. "Don't you want a vase for the flower?" He shouted  
Ino dashed out of the office "Yes please"  
Mr Yamanaka held the vase tight "His name?"  
Ino looked outside and then pointed "Look dad, across the street, mom is walking with another man"  
Mr Yamanaka immediately looked outside "She's what?"  
Ino grabbed the vase and ran back towards the office door "Thanks dad"  
Mr Yamanaka turned back to see his daughter open the office door with the vase he held so tightly in her hands "You got me this time Ino, but I still want to know his name"  
Ino didn't answered instead she smiled at her dad then shut the office door.  
Mr Yamanaka stared at the office door 'Is it Shikamaru or maybe its Choji.'  
__________________________________________________________________________________

Two hours later

Ino came bursting out the door "I'll be back right back dad"  
"Hey where are you going young lady?" Mr Yamanaka shouted  
Ino stood in front of the door ready to leave "T-to get a tattoo"  
"What?! Over my dead body!" Mr Yamanaka shouted as he walked towards the door  
"Relax dad, let me explain. The arts and crafts store up the road is selling kanji temporary tattoos which wash out and plus you'll get to find out his name now" Ino explained "and its civies day tomorrow remember"  
"It better come off or I'll peel it off" Mr Yamanaka threated  
Ino hugged her father " That would hurt…Thanks dad"  
__________________________________________________________________________________

20 minutes later

The shop echoed as a jingle played when the door opened in the Yamanaka florist. Mr Yamanaka stood behind the desk working out the budget for the next month, he stopped and searched his daughter for the tattoo "well where is it?"  
Ino smiled and turned her back to him  
Mr Yamanaka deciphered the kanji "Sai? What kind of name is that?" he asked  
Ino turned back to face her father "a mysterious one dad"  
He nodded in agreement "Yes, a mysterious one. That makes me very nervous Ino, are you sure he is okay"  
Ino nodded "he seems kind but dad I just met him so I can't really tell, if I come home crying one day you know what happened"  
Mr Yamanaka held his daughter and kiss her on the forehead "Okay, but be cautious. I love you so much"  
Ino hugged him in return "I know you do dad. Can we go home now?"  
"Yes, let's get out of here. Your mom has already called 6 times" Mr Yamanaka informed his daughter.  
Ino looked at her father with a worried face "Did you tell mom?"  
He nodded "Yes, she was already saying no but I told her that I saw him and he seems okay"  
"And?" Ino asked  
"She wasn't too happy about it but I'll try and win her over when we get home okay, now let's go before she calls again" Mr Yamanaka said  
"Not without my flower dad" Ino ran into the office to fetch her flower  
"Alright but hurry up" Mr Yamanaka said  
__________________________________________________________________________________

Yamanaka Residence

Ino's mom didn't like the idea completely but she told Ino she would let have a bit of freedom with the boy name Sai. Ino was head over hills about it and was dying to phone Sakura and tell her but she thought it would be better to surprise her the next morning on the bus.

After spending two hours trying to pick what to wear Ino lay on her bed and tried to read her biology book but nothing she read made any sense 'all I hear in my head is his voice, his charming voice'  
She tossed the book aside, switched the light off and rested her head on the pillow. She lay awake for 3 hours waiting for sleep to claim her but nothing happened 'music maybe'. Ino got up and grabbed her LeafBox (MP3 player), she exited out of her usual genre of music which was R'n'B and Pop to House. She scrolled down and the list of songs and found the songs she wanted to hear, she started out with: _Right Here by Bliss then This World by Dominica then Something About You (Jonathan Morning's black light mix) by Lorayne then La Ritournelle by Sebastien Tellier then It's You, It's Me by Kaskade then finally Brand New Day by The Return_. After listening to these songs over and over for 1 and a half hours sleep finally claimed Ino.

Ino's Dream

The light of the sun felt warm on her skin, her chest rose as she took a deep breath in before separating her eyelids to a cloudless blue sky. Her body lay in a sea of yellow sunflowers; she watched them sway in the light breeze. She smiled and then shut her eyes again. She then felt a little bit cold; as if something was blocking the sun's warmth from reaching her skin. She unwillingly parted her eyes and saw a silhouette, it was of someone familiar, someone she knew. The person reached out their hand to her "Are you okay…sunflower?"

-End of dream-

Ino jumped up in fright as the alarm rang '05:38AM'. Ino rubbed her eyes clearing them of the hard grain of dust that had developed through her 4 hours of sleep. She stretched and made her way to the bathroom where she freshened up; she smiled when recalled the day before 'sunflower'.  
She turned around to check if her tattoo was still together and not torn apart "phew, it's still looking good." She made her bed and looked at the clothes she picked 'Should I really wear this? I mean this is the only day throughout the whole year where I get to wear my own clothes other than that dreaded uniform and the first time I am dating a guy from school...no its perfect' Filled with excitement Ino got dressed put on a small amount of makeup and headed to the dining room for breakfast.

* * *

Breakfast

She ate as fast as she could, her parents watched with amazement "My, are we in a hurry today" Mr Yamanaka pointed out  
Ino nodded "I don't want to miss the bus"  
"Sai right?" Mr Yamanaka guessed  
Ino swallowed the last of her breakfast "Ummm…I don't know what you mean" Ino got up and ran back to her room  
She went to her desk and picked up the sunflower and sniffed it before running back to the dining room to kiss her dad on his cheek then dashing out of the house.

The Bus stop

There were lots of school kids standing in a queue at the bus stop 'Ah so many students.' She took her place at the end of the line. She became lost in thought "Are you okay….sunflower?" a voice echoed in her mind. She looked at the hand "Sai….? Sai was in my dream…." She smiled 'He really was in my dream, I'm no longer lying in the sunflowers alone…' she thought

Ino then waited for what felt like forever and then the bus finally arrived; Ino could barely hold herself together, she looked through the window for Sai 'Maybe he has a seat for us'  
When Ino entered it was the same as always, packed full of school kids. Ino sighed and looked at the seats to see of Sai was there but he wasn't so she grabbed hold of one of the poles. She leaned against it showing her despair and anger 'he's not here…he must be late. I can't believe it'

"Why the long face pig?" Sakura asked  
"Nothing forehead!" Ino snapped  
"It seemed like you were looking for someone" Sakura asked  
Ino nodded "But he is not here"  
Sakura looked at her in complete shock "He?"  
"Yes _he_, my boy friend" Ino confirmed  
"Since when?" Sakura laughed  
"Since yesterday" Ino said  
"Which loser would want to date you pig?" Sakura continued to laugh  
Ino became annoyed and grabbed Sakura by her pink blouse "He is not a loser, and you don't even know him like I do!"  
Naruto stood up trying to stop the growing tension but Ino pushed him out the way. Shikamaru pulled Ino back "Hey calm down, how can you let her get to you like that?"  
Ino pushed Shikamaru off her "And you also, you openly mocked him when you knew nothing about him"  
Shikamaru looked at her in confusion "What?"  
"Don't _what_ me! You know exactly what I am talking about and don't and act like you don't know what love feels like. I've seen you with that Sunagakure girl and you're scared of how you'll be treated if you tell anyone that's why-" Ino paused "Leave me alone, I like the guy so back off"  
Shikamaru held his hands in defence "Okay, don't get so uptight. Why do you always have to be so troublesome?"  
"Let's not fight. We're friends right?" a young spirit said "Share the joys of youth"  
"Man, Guy sensei has really gotten to you Lee" a calm voice said  
"Neji are you mocking Guy-sensei's way?" Lee's tone became aggressive  
"Think what you like I know that's not what I meant" Neji said "Now everyone needs to stop this at once. It's the last day before spring break and I doubt any of you want to see Tsunade today"Silence filled the bus and everyone got back to their seats. Ino glared at Sakura the turned her back away gazing out the window 'I wish he was here'.

A voice called out to Ino in the distance "Sunflower….sunflower….gorgeous sunflower"  
Ino looked turned back and saw the guy she had been defending for the last few minutes standing at the near the back of the bus listening to his LeafBox. Ino pushed her way through many kids and stood in front of her new love.  
"Are you okay?" Sai asked  
"I am now" Ino blushed  
"I was listening to music so I missed what happened there, I hope everything is okay" Sai said  
Ino nodded "Just a simple misunderstanding" she walked closer to her love "What are you listening to?"  
"I'm listening to house music" Sai answered  
"I love house music, what song?" Ino asked  
Just then the bus rode of a pothole causing Ino to fall forward. Sai managed to catch her in time "Are you alright? You need to hold onto something otherwise you'll fall and hurt yourself" Sai paused "I don't want to see you get hurt"  
Ino blushed feeling his arm wrap her "S-so can I h-hold onto you?"  
Sai held her tighter "With pleasure sunflower"

"Sunflower?" Naruto said curiously  
"What a lame name" Sakura added "and so is that tattoo"  
"Being called sunflower is far better than called ugly" Shikamaru added  
Sakura pulled her tongue out at Shikamaru who shrugged his shoulders.  
Naruto looked at Sakura "You and Sasuke will have a moment like that someday Sakura, I promise"  
Sakura smiled "Thanks Naruto"  
"And for what it's worth I don't think you're ugly" Naruto exchanged a wide smiled to Sakura  
Sakura smiled back "It still doesn't mean I'll go out with you though"

Sai handed one of his ear pieces to Ino "Would you like to listen?"  
Ino nodded and placed the ear piece into her ears "I love this song. Want to sing it with me?"  
Sai felt embarrassed "I can't sing"  
"Neither can I. But let's just sing the chorus" Ino suggested  
Sai nodded. They both began to sway to the music and almost everyone in the bus had their eyes on this pair as they sang to the music

_Here we are,  
In this world._

_Here we are in this world_

"We are here" Sai sang  
Ino knew that, that part wasn't in the song so she just played along "Yes, in this world…together" she whispered soft into his ears.  
"I love your tattoo sunflower" Sai said looking at the reflection in the bus window  
Ino smiled "That makes me happy love"

-**END-  
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I hope you enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed writing this.

I truly hope you enjoyed this short story. I **love **reviews but no **flames **attached please, I already have enough for winter to keep me warm.


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